Bahrain upholds lengthy prison terms for journalists

New York, September 28, 2011--The
Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today's decision by the appeals
chamber of Bahrain's
Court of National Safety to uphold lengthy prison terms for 21 individuals, including
twoonline journalists and a prominent
human rights defender. In separate press freedom violations, authorities
prevented a newspaper from covering Saturday's parliamentary by-election, and
an independent journalist has faced persistent harassment.

The appellate ruling, which was reported by the official
Bahrain News Agency, upheld the June convictions of journalistic bloggers Abduljalil
Alsingace and Ali Abdel Imam and human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a
leading defender of free expression rights, on a series of charges related to "plotting
to topple" the regime. The court also let stand the life prison sentences
given to Alsingace and al-Khawaja, and the 15-year term handed to Abdel Imam.
The original proceedings in the Court of National Safety, a tribunal made up of
civilian and military judges, were marred by a lack of due process and
fairness, according to news accounts and human rights defenders. Defense
lawyers had limited access to both their clients and to the evidence in the
case, according to those accounts, and the court did not fully investigate
reports that the defendants were tortured in custody.

"Journalism, no matter how
adversarial to the government, does not amount to an antistate crime," said CPJ
Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem. "The
prosecution failed to produce evidence implicating the two journalists in a
crime, and the courts did not ensure fair and just proceedings."

Alsingace and Abdel Imam were arrested last
year on antistate conspiracy charges during a government crackdown. They were released in February as the government sought to appease a then-nascent protest movement, but Alsingace was re-arrested in March as authorities cracked down again. Abdel Imam went into hiding at the same time to avoid his own re-arrest. Al-Khawaja was arrested in April and
suffered extensive physical abuse, CPJ
research shows.

In a separate case, the government's election committee delayed
granting ID passes to journalists for the independent daily Al-Wasat, thus preventing them from
covering the government's by-elections on Saturday, local journalists told CPJ.The government-issued ID passes allow
journalists to enter and report from polling stations. The election was
scheduled to fill 18 empty seats in the 40-seat parliament that had been
vacated by Shiite lawmakers six months ago to protest the crackdown. On
September 21, just days before the election, the Bahrain News Agency published
an Interior Ministry statement that "warned against posting illegal calls on
social networking and Internet websites inciting people to break the law," adding
that circulating or publicizing calls to take part in rallies is a "crime
punishable by the law."

In a third press freedom violation, government proxies
continue to harass independent journalist Reem Khalifa on social media websites,
CPJ research shows. Khalifa has been regularly targeted by baseless smears,
particularly on the micro-blogging site Twitter. One post called
her a "sectarian ... filthy apostate." In July, a government supporter described
the journalist as a terrorist, and posted
on Twitter the time and place she picked her children up from school, urging readers
to "go say hello," CPJ reported.

Also in July, government supporters prevented Khalifa from
conducting an interview, goaded her, and falsely accused her of hitting one of
them, CPJ research found.
CPJ's review of the video footage and still shots of the incident indicate
that the journalist did not strike the woman. Pro-government media have since engaged
in a smear campaign against Khalifa, reporting on the episode as if she had
committed a crime. On September 13, the state-aligned newspaper Al-Watan
published an opinion
piece that took prosecutors to task for not pursuing legal action against
the journalist.

In 2011, independent and
opposition journalists in Bahrain
endured the worst conditions since King Hamad bin Khalifa assumed the throne in
1999. Journalists have been subjected to summary firings and countless
instances of harassment. CPJ has documented two journalist deaths
in custody, dozens of detentions, arbitrary deportations, government-sponsored
billboards and advertisements smearing journalists, and numerous physical
assaults, among other violations.

EDITOR'S NOTE: The original text of the alert said both Abduljalil Alsingace and Ali Abdel Imam were arrested in March, citing news reports. This is incorrect. Abdel Imam went into hiding to avoid arrest.

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